Banks are using their fraud monitoring systems to keep a
close eye on activity followingHer Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
breachwhich saw the personal details of 25
million child benefit claimants go missing.
Earlier this week HMRC admitted that two computer discs
containing all the information, designed for the National Audit
Office, were unaccounted for.
Personal details, such as names, addresses and bank account
details, were on the discs. Despite banks reporting no
extraordinary fraudulent behaviour on the accounts they have
increase vigilance and added processes to reduce risks.
Banks use software to monitor accounts for abnormal behaviour.
This intelligence can be used to alert customers and the bank of
possible frauds. These systems are always running but this week's
panic put them on high alert.
HSBC said that
its state of the art fraud detection system has been used to
increase visibility.
"We have introduced some different processes, primarily to
increase the monitoring of how customers manage their accounts,"
said an HSBC spokesman. "We are watching for activities such as
opening and closing accounts, changing passwords and applications
for additional products."
A Barclays Bank spokeswoman said back office systems are
constantly monitoring account behaviour. She said systems can be
used to analyse activity since the discs went missing rather than
when they were reported. "We have gone back and looked at accounts
since 18 October when the discs went missing and there has been no
extraordinary fraud. [Apart from this] we do not need to do
anything different following the data going missing," she
added.